Blue, Green and Everything InBetween
by swabloo
Summary: If Harry thought that traveling through time and space would be all fun and games, then he was dead wrong. But even through hell or high water, maybe he'll make it; with a little help from the right kind of doctor. Doctor Who/Harry Potter crossover!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is a slight experiment. I've already written the next chapter, but I wanted to know what you guys think of the possible plot and situations. Is this something you'd want to read? (keeping in mind that future chapters will be a lot longer)

**Blue, Green and Everything In-Between**

**Chapter One**

Mauve. It flashed and echoed all around him, the siren screaming at him, warning him that something was wrong and needed fixing, now. Well, not exactly now; somewhere in the early twenty-first century to be exact.

He leapt into action, pressing this and that and shoving his ship into full throttle. Pulled a lever – and suddenly, that sweet, oh so familiar techno grating sound welled its way up and out and sung along to the sound of the universe, flying through the fabric of time itself.

Then it was over, so quickly and smoothly he was unsure if he had really travelled millions of miles and hundreds of thousands of years. Grinning like a loon he walked-joggled-ran- okay, _skipped_ to that big blue door, and clicked it open, stepping out into the evening sun with barely controlled excitement at the thrill of new adventure, new places to go and people to meet. Anything to keep him busy and thinking and plotting so that the event that was still so recent and raw was pushed so far back it didn't hurt.

Looking over the scenery, he saw a grey, alien body lying on the ground, unconscious. A few paces ahead was a black-haired green-eyed teenager, half lying on the grass, breathing hard with a wide-eyed look of shock and confusion, staring between the creature and him and his small-but-not-really blue box.

Something wasn't right. Definitely not. Something was really, really wrong.

"Hullo there! Just between you and me, I'm wondering up a storm. How did a kid like you manage to send a mauve distress signal and tune it to the frequency of my Tardis?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Now, it's really kicking off! I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did writing it.

**Blue, Green and Everything InBetween**

**Chapter Two**

Harry Potter was having a very strange day, and considering who he was, it must have been very strange indeed.

The day had started out normal, his family treating him the same as usual (despite blowing up his Aunt Marge last summer) and he'd finished all his chores on time. After all of that, he'd gone for a walk around the block, stopping at the park and swinging on a rather rusted, beaten swing, falling to his muses as he wondered about his newly found Godfather and what the future might bring.

The normality didn't last very long, and from a rustle of leaves across the park a rumbling, throaty growl interrupted his thoughts, hidden in a clump of trees shadowed as they were in the evening sun.

He eyed them warily. "Hello?" A large bulk of something shifted. "… Sirius?" He asked hopefully. Perhaps he'd decided to visit in his dog form?

The _thing_ then emerged from the undergrowth, prowling out into the open with a vicious snarl. Coarse, yellowing skin stretched over a malnourished, inhuman skeletal frame. It lifted up its head, and moved forwards in a heavy, exhausted way. Its saggy eyes where pussy, bloodshot and slitted, giving him an uneven stare that didn't break.

Understandably, Harry froze in shock. This _had _to be a magical creature – nothing muggle and sane could ever resemble this monstrosity. What was it doing here though, in Surrey of all places? How had it found him? It could have been pure coincidence, but Harry certainly didn't think so. Far too many things had happened in his lifetime to let him believe in coincidence any longer.

Feeling the coarse denim of his jeans, he grabbed his wand from his back pocket and held it out in front of him in a manner akin to a shield, knuckles white as his fingers clenched the worn wooden handle.

The terrifying beast crept closer, and moved faster. Harry didn't have a phoenix or a sword or even a professor to help him now and there was no way he could use magic again outside of school – he'd be expelled! He really didn't… want… to…

… Oh, god, the stench had reached him now – all rotting and putrid, the smell of disease. It still wasn't moving very fast, but each second brought it closer. He scrambled away, unable to tear his eyes away from the mutilation before him, trapped in morbid fascination. In his blind panic he fell backwards off the swing, the sudden movement causing the monster to lunge forward a few steps, hind legs twisting in a grotesque manner to propel it forward, maw open and dripping; Harry, having impacted his head solidly against the ground at an awkward angle, stayed where he was, too scared to think. His eyes shut against the nightmarish vision and held his wand forward, screaming for help in his mind – for something, anything, to take him away from here.

The next thing he heard was not the heavy, putrid breath of the beast as it got ever closer, or even a spell on his own lips, but rather a strange grating sound that came from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Prying his eyes open, he readied himself to shoot off a hex (laws be damned) at the creature, but to his great surprise found it sprawled before him, unconscious. To his right, a bright blue wooden police box appeared. It took a few moments for the odd image to process, but the only conclusion Harry could come to was magic. Was it a wizard? He knew they travelled in odd ways. Could this be a ministry worker, trying (and failing miserably) to blend in?

But no, the man that stepped out in a brown suit and long coat did not look anything like a wizard, looking around curiously before his questioning gaze settled on Harry.

"Hullo there! Just between you and me, I'm wondering up a storm. How did a kid like you manage to send a mauve distress signal and tune it to the frequency of my Tardis?"

This couldn't be real. It had to be a dream – he was in the middle of Surrey, abnormal things certainly shouldn't be happening here. The man cocked his head, staring at him and waiting for an answer.

"I, um, who are you? What are you talking about?"

The man raised an eyebrow, looking at the felled monster again. "Well, I thought it was all pretty clear."

"No, I mean, what _is_ that thing, and what's a, a tardis?"

"You mean you can't tell? Gosh, and I thought humans were supposed to be getting smarter…"

Harry stared in disbelief. "Wait, what?"

"It means, kid, that you're looking at a real, honest-to-goodness alien." The doctor gave a winning grin, eyes alight with glee. It was always wonderful to see the reaction when a human found out that all those conspiracies, wonders and imagination was actually –

"No." Well, he'd seen outright denial, too. He frowned at the boy. "Whaddya mean, no? Can't you see that thing?" His grin grew wider, "Can you honestly tell me that thing came from Earth? Haven't you always wondered, no, _dreamed_, of life out there, those billions of stars?"

Harry shook his head, bewildered. "What? Er, well, yeah, actually, I have seen stuff like that before. It's certainly not a muggle creature, so it's got to be magical."

The Doctor, for once (well okay, it had happened before), was at a loss. "Muggle? Magical?"

Harry's face whitened. "Y-you mean – you're _not _a wizard?"

"No, I'm the Doctor. Pleasure."

"Then how did you, er, transport yourself here, if it's not by magic?"

"Have you been reading too many fantastical books, ah… What was your name again?"

"Harry. But that's not what I, er." he glanced at the creature again, "oh, _bugger,_" He groaned, throwing his hands up in the air. "Why can't I ever have a _normal_ summer holiday?"

The Doctor sensed something was amiss, and not just with the current situation. Not acknowledging the fact that he and the boy were complete strangers (not that it had ever stopped him before), he walked over and sat down next to the teenager, giving him a look of empathy. "Want to talk about it? I've been told I'm a good listener, with bits and bobs of good advice for every situation."

Harry sighed. What the hell, why not? "Sure. It's not like I haven't done anything weirder, or more dangerous than confiding in a complete, psycho stranger."

"I'm not psychotic. Really"

"Right. Look, it's not your problem –"

"I always make everything my problem, Harry. You can tell me what's bothering you." There was a quiet pause after this, before Harry seemed to sigh in defeat.

"It's just that… Well, ever since I found out who I am, that I'm supposed to be a celebrity, some sort of hero, bad things of the dark lord kind keep –"

"Dark lord, huh? The ol' rape, pillage, murder and conquer?"

Harry stared. "Hey – what was that you said about _listening_?"

"Heh, sorry, it's just – wow! I mean, I've encountered wizards before, but none of them ever seemed to like me, can't see why –"

"Wait, so you _knew_ it was possible I could've been telling the truth? And you _still_ mocked me?"

The doctor gave a sheepish grin. "Hey, you might really have just been reading lots of books…"

Harry paused, and seemed to study the man before him. "What was that you said about a tardis?"

"Not just a tardis. _The_ TARDIS - Time And Relative Dimensions In Space!"

Harry paused, turning to stare incredulously. "… What?"

"Techno babble for 'it travels through time and space'." The grin he gave was infectious.

Harry, however, was suspicious. "Even if this is all true, why are you telling me?"

"Well, for one thing, I have also been told that I never think things through, beyond the initial confrontation. Plus, I like you."

"That can't be it."

"Well, okay. I'm also very curious as to how you practically hacked into my ship."

"… I _what?_"

"Oh, it's nothing big, really. But you somehow gave a message to my TARDIS – and by default, you could give her a virus of a sort, if you so desired. Heck, I bet if you knew what you were doing, you could hack into my database! All those zeros and ones aren't so sure what to do with themselves now."

"And you're not getting rid of this security risk, because…?

The doctor winked. "Like I said, I like you. Life has dealt you an unfair hand. And don't you humans always say to keep your friends close, but your enemies closer?"

"What, so I'm your enemy now? A thirteen-year-old-boy?"

"Nope! " He stood up, and offered his hand. "I'm saying I'd like you to join me in my crazy adventures through time and space." (It shouldn't have made the Doctor feel giddy as he asked this, because really, he'd said this to dozens of people before – but come on, this was _Harry bliddy Potter!_ A living legend! How could that _not _make the Doctor grin like a buffoon? (He told himself he should probably tone it down; no need to scare away that young scrap of a boy, eh?))

Harry was, understandably, stunned. First, he'd gotten attacked by what seemed to be an alien. Then _another_ alien had showed up, and offered… What exactly was he offering?

"Er, I was told not do things like that with strangers."

"Oh, come on," The Doctor countered, "You can get away from all of this, start a new life, on any one of those stars."

Still, Harry hesitated. "I don't know… I've got a life here, even if it is a dangerous one. I've got friends, school…"

"Oh, don't worry about that! Didn't I mention it travelled through time, too? I could bring you right back here, to the moment you left."

He was overwhelmed. What could he say? "This is, er, kinda awkward, Doctor. I don't even _know _you."

"I'll take you straight back here the moment you want to go. Promise."

It was then that Harry felt _something_ – his magic, pulling towards that odd blue box – it _wanted_ him to join the Doctor, to get closer to – to whatever it was inside, tempting him with adventure and things he couldn't begin to comprehend.

He didn't respond. At least, not with words.

The Doctors hand was taken, and the boy steadied to his feet as he was led inside the blue police box. Moments later it, and the people it carried, disappeared with an almost joyful whine – glad to have company once more.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Hey, guys! I forgot how much I enjoyed this story. I'll try writing more of it soon. And, in case you guys missed it, Harry's in the summer before his fourth year when he gets picked up by the Doctor.

**Blue, Green, and Everything InBetween**

**Chapter Three**

It wasn't so much that Harry particularly minded the death-defying escapades he kept finding himself on. No, it was the damnable _frequency _of them. He'd been travelling with the Doctor a whole few months or so already, and it seemed that every fourth journey or so had to have at least one mystery attached to it, and every other one after that required a big bad and the need to defeat it. Which meant he'd already had four adventures where he'd skirted death and had to run for his life. When he'd gone to Hogwarts, that had only happened two or three times a year – travelling with the Doctor had raised the number of these occasions by a multiplication of over twenty! (Well, if the current trend was any indication.)

Harry huffed, then turned a glum look towards the man responsible. "Can we just go to a beach next? A nice, quiet, normal, non monster-inducing sandy strip of land?"

The Doctor gave him a startled look. "Whatever for? We just went to a beach."

"That… Wasn't a beach. It was a small island, with _monkeys _out for our lives. We didn't even have a chance to sunbathe!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Semantics." He paused, glancing at the boy slumped bonelessly in a seat beside him. The past several months had been thrilling, the child-like curiosity and Harry's natural need to appease it along with his own reckless, nosey behaviour had made for very fun times. But that was it, wasn't it? Harry was still just a child, far younger than any of his previous companions (a sharp pang reminded him of his granddaughter, but he quickly buried that away). They'd spent his recently passed birthday roasting smoores over a volcano (the Doctor had insisted, despite being two months overdue at the time). And whilst that had been a really lovely day, it had reminded him of how young Harry really was, never mind how old he appeared to be in mind, not body. He couldn't keep up, not really, not like the others. (A certain blonde flashed through his mind, as he fondly remembered her running and _overtaking_ him in on more than just a few occasions.)

The natural solution hit him readily, although he worried about Harry's reaction. Oh, well – it was necessary, even though neither of them had even spared the matter a single thought since they'd begun travelling together.

"You know what you need, Harry?" He started, raising his brow at the ruffled teen.

"A shower?" Was the reply, followed by an indignant sniff.

"Well, yes, but that's not what I'm on about. Harry, you need to go to school."

Harry froze, eyes wide and shocked. "You're – you're sending me back to Hogwarts?" Not that it was necessarily a _bad _thing. Just… Well, it was unexpected. And he still hadn't managed to outgrow the years of nutritional abuse.

Then the Doctor did something that Harry hadn't been expecting; he outright laughed in the boy's face, throwing his head back and slapping his knee.

"_Hogwarts?_ Pssch. Hogwash! As if I'm going to send you off to some _magic _school."

"Er, what?"

"I'm talking Maths. Computing! _Science_!

"Oh, hell no!" Harry panicked, scrambling back out of his seat and backing away. "You – you keep that – that – _away _from me!"

"Ah, but think of it, Harry. The wonders of the universe, I could teach you the mechanics of time travel – "

"We've got that just fine in the wizarding world, thanks. Really."

The Doctor gave a flippant wave of his hand. "What, those Time Turners? Please, I learnt how to make those when I was still in my diapers." He then grinned a smug grin. "Harry… How old are you?"

"Er… fifteen in nine months?"

"And is that not still underage in England?"

"Well, yeah- but not on every planet –"

"Ah, ah! But it_ is_ on your planet. Guess what that means?"

Harry felt defeat grip it's claws down his spine. "Enlighten me," he sighed.

"I suppose I'm your legal guardian, which means matters of edumacation are up to _me_."

The teenager groaned, cradling his head in a palm. School. Learning. Blegh.

"Chop, chop! Let's get those textbooks out. Look sharp!"

* * *

A loud smack drifted through the high-walled room as Harry groaned, head first into his open textbook. The book itself was bigger than the head that was leaning against it, the table groaning under all four thousand pages.

"Why…?" Came a low, whining moan from the book. "Do you hate me? Is that it? Trying to torture me, before dropping me off with Voldemort? Trying to make it easier for him?"

The Doctor shifted his rectangular glasses, peering down his nose at Harry. "What?"

"All this reading will strain my eyes. I'll get a headache. I'll lose sleep. Slowly, I'll lose nourishment. I'll stop growing. I'll be weak and brittle. My magic will weaken and fail me. Then my scar will burn and bristle. Voldemort will have easy access, and every aspect of me will be tortured. I'll die a slow, very painful death. Why, Doctor? Why? Why would you do this to me? Why? _Why?_"

"Oh, shut up," the doctor mused with a wide smile. "You angst-filled heroes are _so _melodramatic."

"At least I'm a hero," Harry pouted as he peered up from his book. "You're just mean. And so very, very cruel."

"Not that it doesn't amuse me, but why are you still complaining? I've been teaching you for ten months. Am I really that bad?" (Had it really been ten months? Looking at Harry's still small form, it hardly seemed like it. Between teaching and running around with monsters and wonderful new worlds, time had flown by.)

"Well…" The raven-haired fifteen-year-old paused, a look of concentration on his face. The Doctor looked aghast.

"What? You really have to think about it?" The Doctor contemplated shutting the book in Harry's face.

"No, no," said boy quickly said, seeing the calculating gleam in the Doctor's face. "You're a great teacher. Wonderful. Brilliant. _Fantastic_, even."

"Yes, I am," The Doctor stated simply, smug under the less than sincere praise. "You know, Harry…" He began, "I think you're ready to go to school. Best school in the Universe for all things maths and science, actually. You're a bit young to be starting college, but I've got a fair bit of influence, and since I've been teaching you myself, I'm pretty sure you're more than prepared."

Harry looked incredulous. "This _alien _planet has a college? That starts at sixteen?"

"Well, yes. Universal rule for relative ages within diverse intelligent species; they adopted it, you see, after they'd seen how well it worked for you humans."

"And, ah… What had they been doing before?" Harry was almost afraid to ask.

"Er… They tried teaching them college-level from the relative ages of five. As the students became more diverse, as they bred with other races, the minds weren't quite able to hack it. And after a few generations… Well…"

"Well what?"

"A few of them might have imploded. Just a teensy, tiny bit."

"And you want me to study _there_? Are you _insane?_"

"Certifiably!" The Doctor answered brightly. "But you can't blame them; poor sods tried following the Time Lord curriculum. And they're not Time Lords; couldn't hack it."

"Right…" Suddenly, a horrified look overcame Harry's face. "Doctor? Is that what you've been teaching me all these months? Time-Lord level material?"

The brown-haired man looked guilty for just a few seconds, but it was all Harry needed.

"Doctor!" He whined.

"Oh, hush," The Doctor rolled his eyes. "It's not bad. You're almost at the level I was when I was four. You might have been able to cover an extra year by now, but all that silly magic rotted your brain and made you forget all the really simple stuff – "

"Hey! Magic isn't silly. It's useful."

"For the first four years you learn how to turn a toadstool into a teapot. How is _that _useful_?_"

Harry paused, thinking about it. "Well," he began, "What if you really want some tea? You like tea. Wouldn't that be useful?"

"I suppose…" The Doctor conceded. "Still. S'not like it's fantastic or anything…" He grumbled.

"Right." Harry sighed, looking back down at his book. "Alright… I'll do it. I'll go."

"Really?" The man looked ecstatic.

"Yes – but! I have conditions."

"Conditions? What sort?"

"I know you don't care much for magic, but _I _do. So. Every weekend, you pick me up, and get me to a magic tutor."

"But –"

"Seriously Doctor, I mean it. And you can do it easy; you can time travel. My magic teacher could probably get me every day of his week, if you timed it right. And you only have to pick me up on the weekends or something; it's not like you have to go _exactly _then either, right?"

The Doctor looked glum. Why did his companions always wizen up?

"Of course, Harry," He smiled gently. "You know I'd always do whatever I could for you."

Harry felt heat creep up his neck. "Er…" He stuttered, not used to familial emotion. The Doctor, seeing this, gave a bark of a laugh and mercilessly ruffled his already messy hair.

"Well, good," Harry continued, "and we should start soon, because when it comes to learning magic, I'm pretty sure there's a time limit sort of thing."

"Here we go!" Said the Doctor, leaping up from his seat. "This is a whole new adventure for you, Harry! You're going to love it!"

"School," Harry grumbled as he followed, shutting his book "Is _not_ an adventure."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I own nada.

**A/N:** yeah, it's been a while. This chapter's been sitting half-finished for a while now; now that it's summer, though, I'm trying to get in some more writing. I hope you enjoy it – in this one, a brand new character is introduced! (And if any really, REALLY bright cookie manages to catch the deeper meaning, well… You suck, and just spoilt yourself a biggie part of the plot. Keep it to yourself, and I'll write you a one-shot!)

**Blue, Green and Everything Inbetween**

**Chapter Four**

"_Lumos!_" The harsh whisper sounded, and a bright light lit up the rocky valley. Behind the wand, a black haired boy shivered, using his spare arm to rub at his other. "It's cold…" He muttered, before turning bright green eyes to the other man. "I thought you said we were going to a festival?"

The Doctor frowned, tapping his watch and shaking it, strapped to his wrist as it was. "Yes… We should be. The co-ordinates are right, except…" a look of chagrin washed over his expression. "I… I guess I must have miscalculated the date..."

Harry stared incredulously. "Really? But you never – " he paused, thinking of all the times they'd landed off course. And then with that girl, Rose, that the Doctor had told him about – the time when he'd landed her a year off course… "Okay, so it happens. But still. Is it the wrong year? Month? I mean – unless it's way, _way_ off, shouldn't there still be some life or civilisation?" (He knew he was starting to ramble, but at that moment anything felt better than the chill that ran down his spine and ached in his bones, echoed by the desolate land around them.)

"That's the thing…" The Doctor muttered, "I didn't do anything wrong…" Suddenly, his eyes widened, and his face turned white. "_I _didn't do anything…"

He spun, quickly, hands grabbing Harry's shoulders. "Are you feeling strange? Weird? Did something different happen today to you? What?"

"What?" Harry repeated, balking in the face of The Doctor's intensity. "No, only…"

"Only what? What?"

"I… When the alarm sounded in my room, saying we were landing, I was… I was asleep, having a nightmare…" His mind turned inwards, remembering; A snarling, ripping mass of teeth that tore into his arm; a sibilant, menacing hissing; and a terrible laugh as a flash of green light threw him into a chilled feeling of terror – the fright of which overcame him now, even in memory –

"Harry! Harry, calm down – just stay with me, calm, everything's fine –"

He looked up, only to find every piece of debris in a mile radius shaking violently, the small pebbles and dust rising into the air. A loud rumble shook the ground, snapping him out of his fear-induced mindset, and the moment that reality hit him, everything dropped back into place and stilled.

Harry let out a low, long breath, before looking up into the Doctor's warm brown eyes, and became aware of the arms that enveloped him in a warm, gentle hug. "It's okay Harry," the man mumbled into the boy's hair, "Voldemort won't so much as _look_ at you so long as I'm here."

And then the question that Harry had been dreading cropped up.

"What was your nightmare about?"

"It's nothing…" He looked away, a blush blossoming on his cheeks. "It's stupid."

"Nah, it's not stupid if it affects you like this. I promise I won't laugh."

"It's just… It was just the Basilisk, like I said, it's nothing." Unconsciously, one of his hands gripped the crook of his elbow, where the scar still resided.

A dark look overcame the Doctor, although Harry didn't see it as he became lost in his memories. "I know," he continued, "It _is_ stupid. I beat the Basilisk. It's dead and gone and I'm still alive so really –"

"Harry," the Doctor interrupted, "I know it still affects you. That all that stuff still affects you; the Basilisk, Quirrell, Pettigrew… I'd be worried if it had taken you any longer to show a greater sign of it."

He remembered all the times he'd come into a room to see Harry just _staring_. The times he'd reacted violently, if in a subdued sort of fashion, to ordinary things that left him with a pained look on his face. The many moments The Doctor had felt _helpless_, wishing desperately that he could just turn back time and change things; to rip that Dark Lord to _shreds_; and the even darker times when Harry had suffered horrible fits of claustrophobia, and he'd felt such strong anger at the Dursley's that, in those very moments when the darkness had crept upon him, he knew that if he'd been standing next to those vermin right then that honestly, he would have committed murder.

"Come on then," The Doctor said softly, "I think you might need a bit of practice in control; I'll take you to the best magical teacher in the universe."

"Teach me magic?" Harry managed a laugh, although it was hard and bitter. "Are you sure a therapist wouldn't be better instead?"

"Oh no, we don't want to cure your insanity. It's the only thing all my companions have in common, you know."

"So… Who's this teacher? What's he like?"

"I think you'll like him…"

* * *

"Rhyse Teapot. And you must be Harry Potter?"

"Er… It's nice to meet you. Um. Rice teapot?"

The Doctor had taken them to a rather small planet, on the edge of an un-pronounceable galaxy. Even though it was quite small – Harry was sure he could walk in a straight line and come back to his starting point in two weeks – It was lush with vibrantly green plants and many glistening pools of water. It reminded him more of a tropical island than its own planet.

After they'd landed, they'd found what looked to be a beach house (apparently, his new teacher was a fan of classic Earth), complete with a decking that overlooked a lake that had a small sandy front. Sat in what could only be a deck chair, was a man that looked to be in his early thirties, with white hair cut close to his scalp and light stubble over the lower half of his face. The colour of his eyes were light grey, almost white, although what might have once been equally pale skin was now tanned from the however many days the man had spent in the planets glorious weather.

He saluted them with a drink brimming with ice, and Harry's eyes tracked the movements of the strong muscles. Whilst the man was lean, there was no mistaking the power behind him, reminding him strongly of a predator.

"Great to see you, Doctor!" The man greeted, voice smooth with a British accent.

"Good to see you too," The Doctor replied in an equally British accent. Harry wondered if they were part of the same club. Or cult.

The Doctor pushed Harry forwards, the movement catching the strange man's penetrating stare. "Rhyse Teapot," he said. "And you must be Harry Potter?"

"Er… It's nice to meet you." Harry felt the need to say something polite. Smart. Funny. "Um." This would be his teacher, he had to make a good impression – but only one thought was running circles around his brain. "Rice teapot?"

The man gave an amused grin. "R-H-Y-S-E. Teapot. That's my name!"

Harry immediately felt incredibly stupid. "Er." Was all he could say.

"I know, it's a bit odd," Rhyse continued. "My dad had a pretty strange sense of humour. If it helps, my middle name sounds more Alien."

"What is it?"

"J'marr."

"Oh," said Harry, not quite sure what else to say.

"It means _Jam_ in my native language; it's a sort of offshoot of a mutation of Earth English."

"Don't worry Harry," The Doctor cut in, "I'd trust ol' Jammy with my life. So! I'll be back in – how long?"

"A week," Rhyse answered. "And then you're taking him to that school, right?" He turned to frown at Harry. "Okay, you better study hard. But If I find out that you spend your week there without practicing your magic, when you come back for a week at your weekend, I'll make run laps around the planet."

Harry felt like gaping. What? Oh, it was all so confusing! He was still getting used to his new schedule. He'd spend a week here, then the Doctor would come and take him to school for the start of term; and then, at the start of the weekend, The Doctor would bring him back here – the day after he left, and he'd spend another week here, to then be taken back to school in time for the Monday-equivalent of classes… And on, and on, and on, until he either learnt it all or imploded from the whole mess of it.

The Doctor gave him a hug, then left him standing there with a rucksack full of clothes and trinkets. "See you soon, Harry!"

The techno grinding noise had never seemed like a death knoll before. With trepidation, he turned to Rhyse, the man holding out an ice-cold drink, and his parched mouth began to water.

"Only," his teacher began, "If you can get it from this table," he sat it down, "_without_ touching it. And _without_ a wand."

Harry heaved a great sigh, set his bag down, and promptly started thinking _"Wingardium Leviosa!"_ at the glass as hard as he could. With a swish and a flick of his wrist, he saw a ripple of movement in the liquid. Barely.

This… Was going to take a while.


End file.
